Corporations as Grand Strategists

“Against the context of the dramatic return of the state in global business, this book skillfully blends cases drawn from seven centuries of business history with the strategies of contemporary firms to provide a compelling lens on the role of corporations as grand strategists.”

— Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School, USA

“A deeply original contribution to strategic thought, Corporations as Grand Strategists invites readers to consider the moral, political, and technological foundations of corporate influence. Part history, part strategy, part prophecy, this book explains how corporations became architects of the world order in the past and continue to influence and mould the world order of today.”

— Timothy M. Devinney, Chair and Professor of International Business, Alliance Manchester Business School, UK

The return of the state and intensifying great power rivalries have made grand strategy a central concern for corporations. Extending the concept of nonmarket strategy into the realm of international balance-of-power dynamics, this book analyzes sixty-five historical and contemporary cases of firms acting as strategic actors alongside states in global power competition. 

The book shows how corporations cultivate forms of smart power that complement and, at times, surpass those of the state, integrating corporate and grand strategic objectives. It identifies six archetypes of corporations as grand strategists: the exceptionalist, the techno-utopian, the statist, the semi-mercantilist, the stewardly, and the state-like corporation. Tracing their lineage to early modern empire-building and enduring through Cold War rivalries to today’s U.S.–China competition, these archetypes offer a framework linking corporate strategy to diverse hard and soft power industries, varieties of capitalism, state power, and strategic intent.  

Manuel Hensmans is a Senior Lecturer of Strategy at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Belgium. He was a research fellow at Rotterdam School of Management, the University of Manchester, Strathclyde Business School and London Business School. He teaches various courses in strategy and innovation and has published widely in books and journals, for the scholarly and practitioner market.